The Deer
by buddhabread
Summary: Skywarp healed Bravura’s broken bone with an invention he based on one of Starscream’s experiments. He couldn’t risk hurting his human, so he tested it ‘on lots of things’ first, including an injured deer. One shot.


I don't own Transformers. Effit.

Trying to kick writer's block in the throat by writing about woodland creatures.

If you don't get it, this is in the timeline of my fanfic First Impressions. Skywarp zapped an animal with a machine that was supposed to heal it. The animal had bits of bullet (buckshot, i guess?) stuck in it, and the machine made the metal take on a semblance of life. Random stimulus gets it going, and when that happens the metal starts to follow the nervous system for the tiny traces of electricity it needs to grow. You can imagine the complications.

Summary: Skywarp healed Bravura's broken bone with an invention he based on one of Starscream's experiments. He couldn't risk hurting his human, so he tested it 'on lots of things' first, including an injured deer.

* * *

Skywarp found the deer by itself in the woods. He'd heard it thrashing wildly from a distance, though it had gone still and silent as he approached.

Impressive horns protruded from its skull, though the bulk of the creature wasn't anything close to what the Seeker would call threatening. It's skinny legs and delicate feet seemed weak and helpless. By the look of things it had been damaged by a human gunshot, one hind leg hanging awkwardly like a quivering slab of old meat.

The deer was still able to walk, albeit without the grace of the others the Raptor had seen glimpses of in the deep mountain forest. It tried to thrash away over a bush, but it's limp leg caught in the brush and pulled it down. In another time Skywarp might've laughed or even teased the creature, but he had more important things to do.

He lunged forward and caught the injured deer in both hands. It bugled fearfully, tried to kick at him and did its best to gouge at him with its horns, but it was all for naught. Skywarp barely felt a thing.

Skywarp carried the frantic deer the mile back to the hangar nestled in the mountains, satisfied when the creature finally stopped wriggling, only panting and blowing bits of white foam from its mouth.

Thundercracker had arrived only recently, and he was not impressed with Skywarp's new distraction.

"Why?" the blue mech asked for what felt like the millionth time.

"Because it's not working right!" Skywarp had snapped back. "It killed the first couple of animals, and it didn't do anything the last one. I really think I've got it right this time, though."

Thundercracker had sighed and gone away to find something better to do. In all honesty Skywarp knew he should listen to his brother: Thundercracker had common sense, not to mention a strong sixth sense for how and what to get done and when to do it. All of the Seekers did, it was how they did their job, but TC's was better than most.

If TC had bothered to care, he could've taken control of the whole operation. He was the biggest of the command trine, the strongest, and he had perhaps the most deadly weapons of the three. He simply didn't want to lead.

Not that Skywarp cared about the inner workings of his brother. He had a responsibility to know, of course, but the how's and why's of TC's personality wasn't important at the moment. Thundercracker always did his job, and he did it well, without inflaming Starscream's need for leadership or getting in the way of Skywarp's 'hobbys.'

Skywarp strapped the animal to the table he'd placed under the ray and went about setting its broken bone. The deer shrieked, a piercing and painful sound, then shivered to stillness. It screamed again when the machine flipped on, then fell limp. It's tongue lolled from its mouth, and for a moment Skywarp was afraid he'd killed the thing.

Skywarp poked the leg of the seemingly dead deer and felt a shock when it didn't flop crazily but remained firm and solid inside the muscular leg. He'd fixed it.

The deer had suddenly heaved a gasp and began to show signs of coming to. Skywarp quickly pulled the straps loose from the animal and lifted it carefully, rushing through the small underground base to the hangar above. It was just waking up as Skywarp began to lower it to the ground.

With a twist and a kick the deer escaped the Raptor's hands and fell to the ground, landly awkwardly on it's tiny feet. At first Skywarp thought he'd failed and let out a distressed sigh, but at the sound the little animal had leaped into the air as if it were trying to take flight and then bounded rapidly away into the thick of the mountain forest.

He'd healed the deer. It was healthy and strong. He could finally heal Bravura and fix what those slagging Autobots had done to her. Skywarp flexed his tight shoulders under his heavy armor and went back underground to tell Thundercracker about their new mission.

xoxox Four months later xoxox

The deer never saw the cougar coming. The big cat simply jumped from the tree where it had blended in with the orange and yellow leaves. Fall was upon them, and the deer was more interested in eating as much as it could before the biting winter rolled in. The cougar was of the same mind.

The deer made it out alive, but it was badly injured. Pain seared through it in a way it could never begin to understand, but the animal doggedly continued on through the woods. At first it was too stressed to eat, but after a while it set back to eating despite the pain.

In two days the deer was dead, it organic pieces hanging messily from a mound of dark metal. Late season flies were buzzing around the mess, but a cougar came to take advantage of the free meal and ate most of what lay exposed.

xoxox Spring xoxox

Sam Witwicky really liked this girl. Kayla was blond, with light brown eyes and a saucy personality. He thought she was an absolute fox, but unfortunately she had a thing for 'the great outdoors.' She'd talked him into going to her parents' cabin in the Rockies for spring break, and he'd thought it would be a great chance for some alone time, maybe even some _quality_ time.

He'd sensed something was wrong as soon as he saw her pull out the heavy and extremely dirty hiking boots. Sam had only brought his old sneakers, thinking they might wander around the cabin a bit, nothing serious…

She'd let him borrow her father's things, including a monstrous pack that was probably going to snap his spine in two at any moment.

"I think I'm just going to admire this tree here for a minute," Sam puffed, his feet aching from what he was convinced were at least three hundred blisters.

"Oh, ok," Kayla said with a knowingly smiled.

"You know, the foliage and stuff. I love foliage."

She looked at the tree skeptically. It had just barely begun to bud out, but she loved this time of year. Things were still a bit chilly, meaning she could power on without worrying about getting hot or dehydrated.

"What foliage?"

"Um, the one behind it."

"The pine tree, Sam?"

"Yeah. Really nice tree. With the pinecones. Great for, ah, ornamental projects. Martha Stewart uses them all the time."

She giggled, pressing herself to his heaving chest. "Maybe we should sit down for a little while."

"Well, if you're tired," Sam agreed instantly. He looked around for a log or something, settling a rock that was overgrown with vines. He started for it, completely blowing off what had obviously been a come on from his girlfriend. Kayla huffed and followed him.

Fortunately, she'd been standing back a bit when he sat down. The moment his bare hand touched the crackly brown surface of the rock he'd felt a shock, and Kayla had seen something blue race through both him and the rock.

She'd screamed, he'd screamed, and together they both dropped their packs and 'hid' behind a tree.

"What was that?" Kayla hissed.

"I don't know. It electrocuted me! Maybe I should call Bee…"

"B? What, no! We don't have signal out here, Sam. It's not moving, look…"

He peeked around the tree, and indeed the rock was still.

"Maybe we should check it out," Sam finally whispered, trying to look brave.

"You first," Kayla said warily.

"What? No, you're coming with me!" The young man insisted, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him.

Together they approached the rock, but when it still showed absolutely no sign of moving they gained courage. Sam let go of his girlfriend and touched the rock with one finger.

Nothing.

After a moment of thought, he began to pull the vines away from it. As he did, flakes of what looked suspiciously like rust fell away and revealed shiny dark metal underneath. It was completely shapeless, and even after they'd cleared it completely it resembled nothing more than a mess of lumpy metal.

"Think it's a meteorite?" Kayla asked after a while.

"No clue," Sam admitted. He'd never anything like this in his time with the Autobots, and if you asked him he'd seen no small amount of craziness with them.

"Let's go back," Kayla said nervously. "I don't like messing around with stuff like this."

"How often do you find stuff like this?" Sam asked playfully, picking up his ridiculously heavy pack.

"I found you, didn't I?" she joked.

"Oh, now you've done it," he growled, grabbing her wrist and pulling her closer for a kiss.

xoxox Two weeks later xoxox

The metallic creature felt warm. Its energy level was high, so it instinctively knew it could get up and move about. The creature clambered to all fours, its legs ridiculously elongated. Its neck was short and powerful, with a narrow head reminiscent of a creature it had no memories of.

Its large blue optics, wide set on the shiny head, took in the forest around it. It stood just over seven feet tall at the shoulder, a massive creature despite its narrow physique. It felt lost and lonely, so it trotted into the trees, careful not to catch its viciously sharp horns on the lower branches.

* * *

R & R, hell, even flame if you want. This is just an attempt to get my brain working.


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